If you guys remember, back in 2011, one of the big news stories in the US, was AT&T's attempted buyout of T-Mobile. That deal was derailed by industry watchdogs and the Federal Government because it would have very likely created a far less competitive carrier ecosystem. Even though that buyout died, it looks like AT&T is still doing it's best to gobble up smaller carriers. Luckily, today's news is not nearly as menacing as the previous buyout attempt. AT&T is moving forward with a planned purchase of the smaller Alltel wireless company, and plan to acquire it for $780 Million dollars. Here's a quote with some of the details,

AT&T will buy Alltel’s wireless business for a cool $780 million in cash. That means that AT&T will get Alltel’s licenses, network assets, and retail stores – essentially the entirety of the wireless carrier known as Alltel. AT&T will also be getting Alltel’s 585,000 subscribers, of course.

Alltel operates primarily in rural areas in Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Carolina, and this buyout will help AT&T improve its coverage and spectrum in those areas. The company even mentioned that the acquired spectrum is “largely complementary” to its existing network. It expects voice services as well as the mobile internet experience in these areas to become significantly better for its customers if the buy is approved by the FCC and DOJ.

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More than likely this deal will easily pass regulatory scrutiny, since Alltel is a much smaller fish, and won't create a virtual monopoly between titans like the previous deal would have. What do you guys think? Just life in the big wireless ocean?

VZW did acquire Alltel in many regions, but in certain markets VZW was not allowed to because of monopoly concerns. Not sure why AT&T could unless they don't already have a presence in those areas.

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I would imagine the same reason VZW couldn't. VZW is so big in those areas that they were NOT allowed to buy em, but AT&T buying em in those areas makes them more competitive with VZW. Looking at the numbers and considering the average cost to own a mobile phone now, it wont be long at all before AT&T pays off the buyout just from subscriber fees... seems pretty cheap to me

VZW was only allowed to buy part of Alltel, I still know a few people from the boonies who live here in the city now and their phones are ALWAYS roaming lol though they never get charged for it cause the Alltel towers up here were converted to Verizon. I kinda wish they would go away lol

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